Josef Valcik

Josef Valcik (2 November 1914-18 June 1942) was a Czechoslovak soldier who took part in Operation Anthropoid in 1942.

Biography
Josef Valcik was born in Wallachisch Klobouk, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now Valasske Klobouky, Czech Republic) on 2 November 1914, and he served in the Czechoslovakian military. During World War II, he was trained as a paratrooper in the United Kingdom and was dropped into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1942 to assist the Czechoslovak Resistance in assassinating SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. After they succeeded in killing Heydrich, the attackers withdrew to the Cyril and Methodius Church, where they were besieged by German SS troops on 18 June 1942. Valcik was one of four men to hide in the crypt during the siege, and the four of them killed themselves as the Czech Fire Brigade attempted to flush them out with hoses.